Expect Better Things 8-10-25 PM
I. The remembrance of God (Hebrews 6:9-10).
a. The writer now encourages them after admonishing them.
b. He does so by telling them that he is persuaded of better things for them.
i. Those better things are those that accompany salvation.
ii. He still called them beloved, despite the path on which some were headed.
iii. Despite what he had told them, he still knew they would be saved if they did what he was telling them to do.
c. The reason for his confidence was the remembrance of God.
i. It is interesting that God forgets sin, but remembers good works.
ii. The work they had been doing was toward the brethren.
iii. No doubt some of them were part of the group we read about in the beginning of the book of Acts.
1. Those who had all things in common.
2. The group that took care of one another.
iv. This attitude was still present among them.
d. When we stumble but repent, God does not forget the good works we have done in the past.
i. There were times Abraham sinned but God still put his faithfulness on his account.
ii. God does not wipe away the good with the bad, only the bad and the good lives on.
e. This should give us hope and encouragement when we sin, knowing that God will not forget the good when wiping away the sin through our repentance.
II. We must continue to work (Hebrews 6:11-12).
a. Paul longed for them not to stop working, which in this case is studying and drawing closer to God.
i. He wanted them to give diligence, which is great effort.
ii. They needed to study the way that they cared for one another.
b. We need to realize that being good at something but neglecting effort in other areas is not getting the job done.
i. We can’t be good students but neglectful of how we treat others.
ii. We can’t treat others well but fail to study.
iii. We should strive to be well-rounded Christians, those who are capable of study and growth as well as treating others the way they should be treated.
c. The Hebrew Christians are then reminded to not be lazy.
i. “Slothful” is the same Greek word as “dull” back in 5:11.
ii. There is no such thing as a lazy Christian.
d. The Hebrews writer then tells them to imitate the people of faith who have gone on before them.
i. This is another instance of the writer mentioning something to which he will come back later.
ii. These people were faithful and enduring.
iii. This allowed them to inherit the promises of God.
e. Only by developing the virtues of diligence, faith, and patience can we rightfully have an assurance that we will one day "inherit the promises".
f. Without them, we become sluggish, and as such expose ourselves to the danger of apostasy.
III. God keeps His promises (Hebrews 6:13-20).
a. God made a promise and swore an oath to Abraham.
b. What God promised was that He would bless Abraham and multiply His seed (Genesis 12:1-3).
i. Abraham patiently endured the time that passed until Isaac was born.
ii. This is an illustration of what the writer called for in verse 12.
c. Because God knew that men needed an oath to make things so in their minds, God confirmed His promise with an oath.
d. God gave two unchangeable things, His promise and His oath, and we know it is impossible for God to lie.
e. Robert Milligan made the statement that God made doubly sure as we occasionally say.
f. Again, these things ought to give us great hope and an expectation of better things.
i. God has made us promises, just as He made Abraham and other Old Testament men and women.
ii. God kept every promise He made to them and we should be assured that He will keep the promises made to us.
g. We who have run to God for hope should be strongly consoled in how God dealt with Abraham.
h. We have hope that anchors us to God.
i. This hope is sure and stedfast.
ii. It goes all the way to heaven.
i. It goes to heaven because that is where the Lord is, who is now a high priest in the same manner Melchisedec was.